Samuel t



(No Model.)

S. T. RICHARDSON.

MACHINE FOR GRUSHING AND AMALGAMATING 0113s. No. 320,396. j-Patented June 16, 1885.

Jnvemr Samuel {Rich wow O5H/ t gugzy N PETERS, Pmcmm m. Wuhingwn. n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

SAMUEL T. RICHARDSON, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR TO JOHN K. PANGOAST, OF SAME PLACE.

MACHINE FOR CRUSHING AND AMALGAMATING ORES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 320,396, dated June 16, 1885.

Application tiled August 18, 1884.

To all ie/10m it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL T. RICHARDSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Baltimore, Maryland, have invented new and useful Improvements in Machines for Crushing and Anialganiating Ores, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of apparatus employed in crushing and am algamating lnetalliferous ores, and the object thereof is to provide a mill in which a more thorough disintegration and trituration of the ores shall be effected and a more complete and perfect sep aration and amalgamation of the metals accomplished than has heretofore been possible.

The object of my invention 1 accomplish in the manner and by the mechanism hereinafter described and claimed, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a plan view. Fig. 2 is acentral vertical section in the plane 00 a: of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail perspective showing a portion of the trough in broken lines, with the sc aper which travels upon the outerside thereof. Fig. 4 is a similar view illustrating the construction of the scraper which acts upon inner side of the trough.

In the said drawings, the reference numeral 1 denotes a circular trough having an inner vertical wall, 2, and an outer wall, 3, the latter havingits interior face, 4, slightly concaved and inclined, as shown, and provided with a suitable opening, 5, covered by a screen, 6, and having a spent, 7, which empties into a chute or sluice, 8. The trough 1 is surrounded by an annular curb, 9, and within the inner wall of the trough is formed a central basin, 10, with which the trough l communicates by an opening or openings, 11, cut through the inner wall, 2. At its lowest point this basin is provided with an outlet, 12, for a purpose presently to be described.

Above the opening 12, which is central relatively to the trough, is mounted upon feet, 13, a bearin ,9; block, it, in which is stepped avertieal shaft, 15, having suitable support above, provided upon its upper end with a miter-gear, 16. Upon said shaft is mounted a hub, 17,

having arms 18, which radiate therefrom, and upon the outer extremities of these arms are journaled crushing-rolls, 19, each having a (No model.)

groove, 20, formed in its periphery, which, as shown in Figs. 1. and 2, is angular.

WVithin the trough 1, and between its inner and outer walls, is formed an annular crushing and grinding ridge, 21, which in crosssection is of pylamidal form, and upon which the grcovtd rtlhrs 19 travel, the groove in said rolls fitting with practical accuracy upon the ridge 21, the inclired sides of which form tl e grinding-surfaces upon which the rolls act. The radial arms or shafts 18 are braced by a connecting-annnlus, 22, arranged just within the rolls 19 and aboye the shafts, a half-box, 23, being laid upon each shaft beneath the ring, 5 and secured to it by bolts 24.

Radiating from the hub 17, intermediate of the arms or shafts 18, are rods 25, supported upon the ring 22, each basing a depending portion, 26, which drops nearly to the top of 7 the trough l. The lower end, 27, of this dependingportion is bent into parallelism with the bar 25, and upon each alternate bar is pro longed until it is nearly in the vertical plane of the outer wall, 3, of the trough, the correspending extremities 27 upon the remaining rods extending nearly to the apex of the grimling-ridge 2l. Upon the ends 27 of said rods are mounted scrapers 28, which travel in the groove or channel formed by the outer wall, 3, of the trough and the inclined grinding surface adjacent thereto. This scraper is composed of a plate, 28, the forward end of which lies flat upon theouter grinding-face, 21. From this point the plate curves upward toward the 5 apex ofthe angle formed by theinclined grinding-surfaces, one edge, 28", lying in substantial parallelism with and upon said apex, and the other edge approaching toward and uniting with it at the rear end of the scraper. 9 Upon the outer edge of the plate 28 is formed or attached a triangular plate 28", slightly concaved to be closely against the outer wall of the trough, and rising above the latter is a curb-plate, 28, which curves from the forward end of the scraper back to the rear point thereof, which lies over or a little within the apex of the grinding-ridge 2t. The extremity 27 of the propelling-arm is attached to the latter plate by means of a pin, 29, drop- I00 ping from an eye in the end 27 and entering a box, 30, upon the back of the plate. The

scrapers 28 travel in the outer portion of the trough 1, and just inadvance of alternate crushing-rolls 19. Upon the alternate rods 25, having shorter extremities, 27, are mounted scrapers 31, which travel in the inner portion of the trough-viz., the channel lying between and formed by the inner inclined grindingsurface21", and the inner vertical wall,2. The latter scrapers are constructed in a manner very similar to that already described, save that they are composed of two plates onlyviz., a plate, 31 lying upon the grinding-surface, curved upward and contracted to a point at 'its rear end, which overlies the apex of the grinding-ridge, and a curved plate, 31", which rises from the inner 4 edge of the plate first named, and has its forward end lying against the vertical wall 2 of the trough. The function of these scrapers is as follows: As they traveljust in advance of the crushing-rolls, they collect the crushed ore lying upon either side of the grindingridge, removing therefrom the adhering pulverized material, which is pushed up upon the scraper and delivered from its rear end upon the opposite grinding-surface, whereit is at once subjected to the action of the grindingroll behind the scraper. As soon as thelatter has passed, the next scraper removes it from the surface upon which it has beenlast crushed and returns it to the side from which it was first taken, where it is again acted upon by the roll next succeeding. This operation continues as long as the mill is in action, one essential feature of the scrapers being that the ore taken from the bottom of the channels in which they travel is thrown upon the upper part of the oppositeinclined grinding-surface, While the portion removed from the upper part of the grinding ridge is deposited at the bottom of the opposite channel. The channels of the trough being occupied by mercury, it will be seen that the process of amalgamation will be more rapidly and perfectly accomplished, since the more finely triturated parts of the ore will lie upon the inclined grinding-faces, and at each action of the scrapers will be brought into contact with the quicksilver, while the coarser particles, which sink to the bottom, will be raised and thrown upon the inclined crushing-surfaces, where the rolls act upon them to greater advantage and with more'power. The interior face, 4, of the outer wall of the trough, as already described, is slightly inclined and concaved. By this construction the outer flange of each crushing-roll is caused to act as a scraper to said Wall, as will readily appear from an examination of Figs. 1 and 2. It will be seen that the grooved rolls have not only a rolling but a grinding contact upon the inclined grinding-surfaces in the trough, because the outer surface, 21, being of greater extent than the inner, while the flanges upon the rolls are of equal diameter, one of said flanges must slide upon the surface with which it is in contact, this sliding movement being represented by an are equal to the difference in length of the inner and outer grinding-faces. This action aids materially in effecting a complete trituration of the ore and a perfect amalgamation of the metal. The scrapers may be extended, if desired, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, so that their forward ends more closely approach the contactpoint of the preceding roll, while the rear ends lie under theperiphcry of the roll following. This construction permits the scraper-plate to be but slightly inclined, and the material taken up by it will therefore pass more readily over said plate. By my invention, I prevent all packing of the larger particles of the crushed ore in a hardened cake or crust of the more finely pulverized part, and the process of crushing and amalgamating is therefore more perfectly aecomplished. Moreover, the disintegrated mass being constantly turned over and shifted from one grinding-surface to the other and acted upon by the rolls immediately after each transposition, the ore is not only more finely crushed and thoroughly mingled with the mercury, but a great economy in time is effected, which is a consideration of great importance in this class of apparatus. One or more openings, 33, may be formed in the bottom of the trough for the purpose of permitting the escape of the amalgam from the trough after a proper combination has been effected with the metals of the ore. The openings 12 and 33 are closed by a cook or other suitable device, and may be opened at the proper moment by the operator. The amalgam escaping through the openings 11 and 12 and 33 is received into vessels 34, if desired. The screened aperture 5 permits the escape of the finely-divided particles floating upon the water within the curbing, said particles having a specific gravity which is less than that of water, and, therefore, holding no metals, they are permitted to pass off as Waste.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim isi 1. The combination of the circular trough having an inner wall, an outer wall provided with a'concave inner face, and the intermediate ridge having grinding-surfaces inclining from the central apex downward and outward, with crushing-rolls having grooved peripheries traveling onthe ridge with the peripheral edges of the outer flanges of the rolls in scraping contact with the concave face of the outer wallof the trough, substantially as described.

2. The combination of the circular trough having inner and outer walls and an intermediate grinding-ridge, a vertical shaft, crushing-rolls carried by said shaft and having grooved peripheries traveling on the ridge, rods radiating from the shafts, and two sets of scrapers carried by the rods and moving,

IIO

3. Ihe combination of a trough having a grinding -ridge pyramidal in cross section, crushing rolls having grooved peripheries traveling on the ridge, and two sets of scrapers traveling, respectively, on opposite sides of the ridge, substantially as described.

4. In a mill for crushing ore, the combina tion, with the annular trough, of a grinding ridge having two grinding-surfaces which incline from an apex downwardly and toward the walls of the trough, a series of grooved crushing-rolls turning upon said ridge, and a scraper following each roll upon alternate sides of the grinding-ridge, said scrapers consisting of a plate, the forward end whereof lies upon the grinding-surface, whence it is curved upward and narrowed to a point at the rear end, which overhangs the apex of the ridge,

and a guard or curb-plate rising from that edge of the scraper-plate which is adjacent to the trouglrwall, substantially as and for the purpose described.

5. In an ore-mill, the combination, with the trough 1, of the grinding-ridge 21, the grooved rolls 19, the ring-brace 22, arms 25, the scrapers 28 following each alternate roll, and scrapers 31 following the other rolls, the adjacent scrapers niovingon opposite sides of the grinding-ridge, substantially as and for the purpose described.

In testimony whoreofI atfix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

SAMUEL T. RICHARDSON.

Witnesses JAMES L. NORRIS, EDITH Nonms. 

